Plasterer in Allesley

Allesley sits on the north-west edge of Coventry, where the city gives way to fields on the road towards Meriden. The old village still feels like a village, with its church, its green spaces and a street of old cottages and Georgian houses. Around it, Allesley Park, Allesley Green and Eastern Green added thousands of homes in the decades after the war. We are RCR Connections Ltd, and Allesley is one of the many places we work. Birmingham based, covering the whole of the Midlands, our team plasters Allesley homes of every age, from old cottages with lime on the walls to modern family houses.

This page looks at the different parts of Allesley, the walls and ceilings you are likely to find in each, and the plastering work we do most there.

Free, no-obligation plastering quote in Allesley: WhatsApp me on 07453 614095 or message the page. Send pictures or videos via WhatsApp for a quick response, a free quote and advice. You can also send us a message here.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, Saturday 7am to 1pm, Sunday closed.

The old village

A village on the coaching road

Allesley grew up on the old road between Coventry and Birmingham. Coaches and carts passed through for centuries, and inns and houses lined the street to serve them. The village kept much of its old look when a bypass took the through traffic away, and the heart of it is now a conservation area.

All Saints church

All Saints church is the oldest building in the village, and its spire is a landmark for the fields on that side of the city. Many of the oldest homes are near it.

Old cottages and Georgian homes

Along the old street you find timber-frame cottages, brick cottages and tall Georgian houses. Inside, expect solid brick or timber, lime on the walls and laths overhead. A good number are listed.

What we see in these homes

Damp low on the walls where gypsum or cement has been used, cracked lath ceilings, flaking paint on lime walls, and old patches that do not match. We fix these with lime and keep the old character of each room.

Allesley Park

Post-war homes

Allesley Park was built after the war as Coventry grew, with semis, terraces and some bungalows on wide, curving roads. Many of these homes were built quickly, with simple plaster finishes inside.

Common jobs

Plastering options include whole-room finishes, assessed textured ceilings, crack repairs and making good after rewires and new kitchens. Many of these homes are now on their second or third owner, and a full refresh is common.

Old textured ceilings

Lots of homes from this time still have their swirled or stippled ceilings. A textured ceiling needs a condition assessment and appropriate asbestos advice before a method is chosen. Overboarding can disturb a coating when fixings pass through it; a positive asbestos test is not a reason to board over it without assessment. Do not sand, scrape or drill suspect coatings. Any asbestos work needs a suitable risk assessment, controls and appropriately trained people.

Bay windows and porches

Many semis here have bay fronts and small porches. Cracks often form where bay frames meet the walls, and porch walls can feel cold. We repair the cracks, and suggest fixing frame seals so they stay away.

Allesley Green and Eastern Green

Newer estates

Allesley Green and parts of Eastern Green were built later, from the 1970s onwards, with more modern homes on cul-de-sacs and closes. These homes have cavity walls, plasterboard ceilings and gypsum finishes.

What we do there

Work in these homes can include repairs to board joints, loft rooms, extensions, garage rooms and making good after kitchen and bathroom refits. Many of these homes are now old enough for their first full refit.

Conservatories into garden rooms

A common change is swapping an old conservatory roof for a solid one. Once boarded inside, we plaster the new ceiling and the upper walls, and the space stops feeling like an add-on and starts to feel like a real room.

Lime work in the old village

Why lime

Old solid walls take in moisture and need to let it out. Lime gives that moisture a way out, where gypsum and cement block it, which is why old repairs in these materials often fail.

How we do it

We take off what has failed, keep sound old plaster, and build back in thin coats of lime, giving time between each. The finish is matched to the room, smooth or gently uneven.

Lath ceilings

Cracked or sagging lath ceilings can often be fixed back to the joists and repaired. Where a section has failed, new laths go up and lime goes on over them. In a listed house, check with the council before taking any old ceiling down.

Paint for lime

Lime walls want breathable paint such as limewash or a clay paint. Plastic paints seal the surface and trap moisture.

Re-plastering a whole room

When it is needed

If the walls are covered in old patches, cracks and holes, or the plaster sounds hollow over large areas, it is often better to strip and re-plaster than to patch again.

What happens

We sheet the floor, take off the old plaster, fix beads to corners, put on a backing coat where needed, and finish with a smooth coat. The room is cleaned at the end of each day.

After

The new plaster dries over the next week or two, depending on the weather and heating. A thinned matt emulsion goes on first once it is pale all over. Our post on when to paint new plaster explains more.

Ceilings

Cracks along joints

On plasterboard ceilings, cracks along the board lines are common. Taping the joints and putting on a fresh finish usually stops them.

Sagging ceilings

A sagging ceiling, old or new, needs looking at soon. We check the fixings and the boards or laths, and either fix it back or replace it.

Water damage

After a leak, a ceiling may stain, bubble or fall. With the leak sorted and the boards dried through, we repair or replace the damaged part.

Blown plaster

Knock on a wall and hear a hollow, drummy note, and the plaster there has come away from the brick. Small patches can be cut out and filled; larger areas need re-plastering. Our guide on blown plaster covers the signs.

Extensions and loft rooms

Extensions

Many homes in Allesley have been extended at the back or side. Our part is the plaster on the new walls and ceilings, plus a clean join where the extension meets the old house.

Loft conversions

In a loft, there are sloped ceilings, dormers and knee walls plastered with beads on each edge. We fit our work round the builder and building control.

Coundon, Keresley and Brownshill Green

Coundon

Coundon, just towards the city from Allesley, is mostly semis and terraces from the years between the wars and just after. Many have bay fronts, high ceilings in the front rooms and old picture rails. A common job is re-plastering a front room after the old plaster has been patched for decades.

Keresley

Keresley, to the north, was once a mining village, with a colliery that has long closed. The old terraces and newer homes sit side by side, and large new estates have been added on the old fields. We see both older solid-wall homes and brand-new houses with snagging cracks.

Brownshill Green

Brownshill Green is a small cluster of homes on the lanes north of Allesley. Some are old cottages, and some are newer. Both get the care that suits their walls.

Knocking through and opening up

Two rooms into one

In many semis in Allesley Park and Coundon, owners knock the front and back rooms into one. Once the steel is in and signed off, we plaster round it, fix the ceiling where the wall came out and make the two old rooms look like one.

Kitchen-diners

Opening the kitchen up into the dining room is another job we see a lot. The ceiling line, the old door openings and the new walls all need making good.

Chimney breast removal

Where a chimney breast is taken out, the wall behind it needs plastering, and the ceiling and floor need making good. In upstairs rooms, the breast above must be supported properly. We plaster once the builder has done the structural part.

Kitchens and bathrooms

Kitchens

New kitchens leave old tile lines, holes from old units and patches round new sockets. We tidy the walls so they are flat before tiling or painting.

Bathrooms

In bathrooms, we use moisture-resistant boards behind tiles and a good finish elsewhere. Extractor fans help keep the new plaster in good shape.

Garage conversions

Many of the newer homes have garages that are rarely used for cars. Turning one into a study, playroom or gym needs a new stud wall at the front, a new floor and new linings. Once boarded, we plaster it so it matches the house.

Halls, stairs and landings

Wear and tear

Halls and stairs are the busiest parts of a house. Scuffs, dents and cracks soon show. A hard-wearing finish helps in busy homes.

Tall walls

The long wall beside the stairs is hard to reach. We bring proper staging, so the full height gets its finish in one sweep and no join lines show.

Rented homes

Allesley and nearby areas have many rented homes. Between tenants, landlords often need cracks fixed, holes filled and walls made good before painting. We can work to a tight gap between lets, and keep landlords up to date with photos.

Damp and condensation

In older homes

In the old village, damp is often from the ground or from rain getting in through old walls. The answer is to fix the cause and use breathable materials.

In newer homes

In newer homes, condensation is more common. Black spots on window reveals and damp corners are signs. Better airflow and extractor fans help. Once the cause is sorted, we repair any marked plaster.

Typical Allesley jobs

A front room in Allesley Park

A post-war front room with cracked walls, an old textured ceiling and holes from a rewire. After a clear asbestos test, the ceiling gets a new finish, the walls are re-plastered, and the room is ready to paint.

A cottage on the old street

A listed cottage with damp low on the walls and a cracked ceiling. Gypsum patches come off, the wall is plastered in lime, and the ceiling is fixed back and repaired.

A loft room in Allesley Green

A loft conversion on a 1980s home. The boards go up, and we plaster the slopes, dormers and walls ready for decoration.

Rendering in Allesley

Old homes

For the oldest houses in the village, the outside should be lime too, so the walls stay able to dry and flex.

Newer homes

On post-war and modern homes, K-Rend monocouche and silicone are what we put on. The colour runs all the way through each one. Our page on K-Rend monocouche and silicone explains the systems. For homes with old pebbledash, see our guide to rendering over pebbledash.

Consent in the old village

The old village is a conservation area, and many of its homes are listed. Inside work on listed homes may need consent if it changes old fabric. Work outside, such as new render, may also need permission. Check with the council before you start.

Buying in Allesley

In the old village, look for damp, cracked ceilings and old cement repairs. In Allesley Park, look at the ceilings, the corners of rooms and round bays. In the newer estates, look at the board joints and the landing ceiling. Forward the surveyor’s notes and we can go through them with you.

Allesley homes, one type at a time

Allesley is not one kind of place. A short walk takes you from a timber-frame cottage to a post-war semi to a house built in the last few years. Each one was built in its own way, and each one needs its own kind of plaster. Here is what we find inside the main types.

Timber-frame cottages

The oldest homes in the village have an oak frame, with panels between the posts. The panels may be wattle and daub, or brick put in at a later date. Inside, the plaster sits on laths or straight onto the panels. These walls move a little with the seasons, so hard plaster cracks along the line of each post. Lime copes with that small movement far better. We patch with lime, and we leave the frame alone where it shows.

Georgian brick houses

The taller brick houses on the old street have solid walls, high rooms, sash windows and, in some, old cornice work round the ceiling. The walls are often out of true, as that is how they were built. We do not try to make them dead flat. A lime finish that follows the wall looks right in these rooms, where a flat modern finish can look out of place.

Inter-war semis on the main roads

Along the old roads out of the city there are semis from the 1920s and 1930s. They have bay fronts, picture rails, tall front rooms and, in many, the first cavity walls. The plaster is often an old sand and lime mix, or an early gypsum. By now it has been patched many times. These are the homes where a full re-plaster of one room at a time makes most sense.

Post-war Coventry homes

After the war, Coventry had to build fast. Some homes on the estates round Allesley were built in the usual brick. Others went up in poured concrete or in panels made in a works and put up on site. Inside a concrete home, the walls are dense and cold. They are slow to warm up and can collect damp from the air. We plaster these with care for the cold spots, and we will talk to you about air flow and heat, as new plaster alone will not stop mould on a cold wall.

Homes from the 1970s to the 1990s

Allesley Green and much of Eastern Green fall into this group. Walls are cavity brick or block, with plasterboard stuck on with dabs of adhesive, and ceilings of board with a thin finish. Swirled textured ceilings were still in fashion for much of this time. The common faults are cracks on board joints, nail pops, and boards that sound hollow and move when a shelf is put up.

New homes on the city edge

New homes keep going up on the west side of Coventry, round Eastern Green and out towards the fields. In a new house, the timber dries and the house settles in its first year or two. Cracks show at corners, over doors and on the ceilings. These are normal, and most builders deal with them at the end of the first year. Once that is done, we can tidy up any that come back, or take on the jobs owners want next, such as a media wall or a loft room.

Common wall problems in Allesley

Cracks over doors and windows

A crack that runs up at an angle from the corner of a door or window is very common. In most homes it comes from small movement round the lintel. Where the crack is fine and does not grow, we rake it out, fix a mesh tape over it and plaster it. If a crack is wide, keeps growing, or shows on the outside too, have a builder or surveyor look at it first.

Hollow plaster after a rewire

Rewires are hard on old plaster. Chasing in new cables shakes the wall, and plaster that was only just holding on lets go. We often find a room that was sound until the electrician came. We cut back to sound plaster and re-plaster the area, or the whole wall if it makes more sense.

Mould on cold walls

In homes with cold walls, black mould often shows behind furniture, in the corners of bedrooms and round window reveals. The cause is warm, damp air meeting a cold wall. We can repair the plaster, but the fix that lasts is better air flow, steady heat and, in some cases, warmer wall linings. Plaster alone will not cure it, and we will say so plainly.

Damp at the foot of old walls

In the old village, damp at skirting level is often caused by a hard render outside, a raised path, or gypsum used inside. Taking these away and using lime often lets the wall dry out over time.

Swirls and stipples overhead

A textured ceiling needs a condition assessment and appropriate asbestos advice before a method is chosen. Overboarding can disturb a coating when fixings pass through it; a positive asbestos test is not a reason to board over it without assessment. Do not sand, scrape or drill suspect coatings. Any asbestos work needs a suitable risk assessment, controls and appropriately trained people.

Patches that do not match

Years of DIY patches leave walls with a bumpy, mixed look. Paint shows every edge. Often one coat of finish over the whole wall gives a far better result than trying to fill each patch.

What a plastering job looks like

Step one: pictures and a chat

Most jobs start with a few pictures on WhatsApp. A wide shot of the room, a close look at any cracks, and a note on what you want is plenty. From those, we can often spot the cause and say how best to sort it.

Step two: a visit

For larger jobs we come out to look. We knock on the walls to hear where the plaster has lost its grip, look up at the ceilings, and check for damp. We talk through the work, the time it will take, and what you need to do on your side, such as moving furniture.

Step three: setting up

On the day, we lay dust sheets, mask off floors and doorways, and take down things like curtain poles if you have not done so. Sockets and switches are loosened by an electrician or covered.

Step four: the work

Loose plaster comes off. Beads go on corners. Where the wall needs it, a backing coat goes on to build it up and get it straight. Then a smooth finish coat goes on and is worked to a flat, even face.

Step five: clean up and drying

Each evening the room is swept, and the waste goes out to our van. The new plaster then needs time to dry before paint. Keep the room warm and aired, but do not blast it with heat.

Working round your home life

Pets and children

Plaster and tools are not things for small hands or paws. We keep our work area closed off and tidy, and we let you know when a room is safe to use again.

Living in while we work

Most people stay at home while we plaster, and that is fine. Where we can, we take on a single room, and you keep the use of the rest of the house.

Winter work

Plaster can be done in winter, but cold, damp rooms slow the drying. Light heat and an open window let the moisture out. We avoid jobs where the room cannot be kept above freezing.

Choosing the right finish

Smooth finish

The standard finish for most rooms. It takes paint well and suits modern and older homes alike.

Lime finish

For the old village homes. It has a softer look and lets the wall breathe. It can be made very smooth or left with a gentle texture.

Hard-wearing finish

For halls, stairs and busy family rooms. It stands up to knocks better than a standard finish.

Moisture-resistant boards

For bathrooms and areas behind showers and sinks, where tiles will go on. We fit these and plaster round them so the room joins up neatly.

Allesley Park homes in more detail

Many semis in Allesley Park still have the original layout: a front room, a back room, a small kitchen and three bedrooms. Over time, owners have opened rooms up, added extensions and changed the stairs. The result is walls that are part old plaster and part new. When we work on these homes we look at the whole room, not just the one patch, so the final result looks right in daylight.

The front bedrooms often have a sloped ceiling at the edges where the roof comes down. These ceilings crack along the line where slope meets flat. A tape and new finish usually sorts this out.

Tile Hill, Pickford and the city edge

Tile Hill

Tile Hill, to the south, has a mix of post-war estates and newer homes. We do much the same work there as in Allesley Park: ceilings, re-plasters and kitchen tidy-ups.

Pickford and the lanes

Out on the lanes towards Meriden there are farmhouses, barns and cottages, some now turned into homes. These old buildings need the same lime care as the oldest homes in the village.

Barn conversions

Old barns made into homes are a mix of new and old. New stud walls get board and gypsum, while old brick or stone walls are best in lime. We can do both in the same job and make the join between them neat.

Fitting in with other trades

The right order

If you are having a room redone, the order of work matters. First, the sparky and the plumber run their cables and pipes in the walls. Then we plaster. Then they come back to fit sockets, switches and radiators. The joiner can fit skirting and door linings after the plaster, and the decorator comes last.

Why it matters

If cables go in after the plaster, the new wall gets cut and patched, and those patches often show. A short chat with your other trades at the start saves time and keeps the finish clean.

New kitchens

With a new kitchen, we like to plaster once the old units are out and the new wiring and pipes are in, but before the new units go on, so the walls they hide are sound and the tiles have a flat base.

Looking after new plaster

The first weeks

New plaster starts dark and turns pale as it dries. Patchy dark areas mean it is still wet in those spots. Leave it be until it is an even pale colour all over.

First coat of paint

New plaster soaks up paint fast. A first coat of thinned matt emulsion seals it, and then your normal coats go on. Keep vinyl and wipe-clean paints for later coats, as on bare plaster they sit on top and can peel.

Pictures and shelves

Wait until the wall is dry before you drill and fix heavy things to it. Use the right fixings for the wall: plugs for solid brick, and cavity fixings for plasterboard.

Small cracks in the first months

Fine hairline cracks can show as a house dries out, mostly where new plaster meets old or round door frames. These are often a sign of drying, not a fault. Fill them when you next paint.

One wall or one ceiling

Small plastering jobs are welcome. We often do one ceiling, one wall, a patch where a fireplace came out, or the reveals round a new window. Send a picture on WhatsApp, and we will let you know if it is something we can fit in.

The old village and its rules

The conservation area covers the heart of the old village. As well as listed homes, it means care is needed with changes to the outside, such as render, windows and walls facing the street. For inside work on a listed house, any change to old plaster, lath ceilings or cornice may need consent. We are happy to work with you and your planning officer and to use the right materials so the old fabric is kept.

Nearby places we work

Around Allesley, we also plaster in Eastern Green, Coundon, Keresley, Brownshill Green and Tile Hill. Pages for nearby places: Coventry, Meriden, Kenilworth and Bedworth.

Who we are

Our team has 62 years of combined experience, shared between us at RCR Connections Ltd. That time on the tools covers lime and gypsum inside, and K-Rend monocouche and silicone on the outside of the house. We are Birmingham based, covering the whole of the Midlands, and Allesley is a short hop for us.

Our hours: Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, Saturday 7am to 1pm, Sunday closed.

For Allesley work, WhatsApp me on 07453 614095 or message the page with a few snaps of the room. There is more on what we do and where we work.

More from RCR Connections Ltd: All plastering and rendering services · Areas we cover